GUWAHATI, July 29 - The Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL) has started using spacers to prevent falling of snapped conductors on the ground in its bid to prevent electrocution on roads and public places.
APDCL sources told this newspaper here today that in its bid to prevent electrocution on roads and public places, APDCL has also undertaken an exercise to provide medium voltage line covers to the vulnerable LT conductors.
Simultaneously, a vigorous jungle clearing drive has also been undertaken along the LT lines so that no electrical accidents can take place due to contact of tree branches with the electric cables. The process of removal of the bamboo poles of unauthorised connections has also been initiated.
Moreover, fences around distribution transformers which are still unfenced, are being erected and in the water-logging-prone areas, pads of such transformers are being raised. Proper fuses are also being fitted to the distribution transformers.
T&T Projects Ltd, which is implementing the around Rs 146-crore Guwahati Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (RAPDRP) project, has been asked to expedite its work of installing aerial bunch cables (ABC) at places where there are ageing bare aluminium conductors.
The public sector power utility also proposes to launch a vigorous awareness generation campaign through media advertisements, public announcements and enacting street plays on how to avoid electrical accidents. These short-term measures are expected to be completed by the end of August, sources said.
It is also expected that the APDCL would be able to recruit around 3,500 field staff by the end of this year. Dearth of field staff has been adversely affecting the performance of APDCL, particularly in the area of maintenance of the distribution network, sources said.
The long-term measures proposed by the power utility include among other things, replacement of all the old conductors with ABC cables and taking recourse to underground cables to replace in phases the overground LT cables. This exercise will be started by October next in select areas of Guwahati like Kamakhya and GS Road, sources said.
Meanwhile, the APDCL is implementing an Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded pilot project for converting the overground power distribution network on the GS Road into an underground distribution cable network between Paltan Bazar Nepali Mandir area and Ganeshguri and between Dispur Super Market and Ganeshguri Ganesh Mandir point (behind the MLA Hostel). Laying of this underground cable network is expected to be completed by end of 2018, sources said.
